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NEW HAVEN — An unexpected rise in revenue from the Yale School of Medicine (YSM) may help ease Yale University’s budget crunch.

For the 2014 fiscal year, the School of Medicine eliminated its $12 million projected deficit and finished the 12-month period with a $42 million surplus. According to YSM Dean Robert Alpern, the surplus is due largely to the rise in YSM clinical revenues, in addition to Yale-New Haven Hospital support, malpractice credit and other royalties. The positive results are a primary reason the university may see a balanced budget in 2014 compared to the $39.2 million deficit in fiscal 2013.

University Provost Benjamin Polak told the Yale Daily News that under Alpern’s leadership, YSM has continued to expand the school’s total revenue — nearly $1.4 billion — by expanding its number of practicing clinicians.

Alpern said the School of Medicine is unlike the rest of the university inasmuch as its revenue flows from entirely different sources than other schools. Tuition is only about one percent of revenue, the endowment is approximately eight to ten percent, and the vast majority of revenue therefore comes from two main sources: grants and contracts, or medical services.

The medical school’s revenue is calculated separately from Yale-New Haven Hospital. However, YNHH provides financial support to many med school departments and co-invests in recruiting new faculty or launching new programs to provide destination medical care.

“Because there are so many uncertainties, it’s very hard for us to predict the revenue and predict the expenses, which is why we sometimes close the year with a different revenue than we expected,” Alpern said. “It’s good that this time it’s positive.”

Of the medical school’s budget, according to the YDN, medical services had been budgeted to bring in $635,465,000. In reality, those services — which include more than 1,000 practicing physicians as part of Yale Medical Group — brought in nearly $30 million more at $664,981,000, which shattered the actual revenue of $580,053,000 brought in during fiscal 2013.

FAIRFIELD — Corporate bartering for health care is becoming more popular in southern Connecticut. Businesses are striking trade and barter deals with hundreds of medical professionals such as dentists, optometrists and even chiropractors, massage therapists, medical pros in exchange for services for their employees.

One company that specializes in such barter arrangements is the Fairfield ITEX group. Company goods and services can be exchanged for trade dollars that can then be used to engage health-care providers already in the ITEX network.

Each employer determines how to involve participating employees and team members — e.g., depositing trade dollars in a worker's personal health care fund for having a perfect sick record, highest sales in the month, or exceptional customer service. Participants can then exchange those trade dollars for visits with participating medical professionals in the ITEX program. The medical participants can use the trade dollars they receive for airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, restaurants, etc.

Over two decades the Fairfield ITEX office has grown into the largest among all franchisees, with more than 1,600 members and annual volume in excess of $17 million. To learn more visit fairfield.itex.com.

The National Institutes of Health has recognized a UConn Health surgeon scientist's creative research into regenerative engineering with a $4 million award, UConn announced earlier this month.

Practicing physician Cato T. Laurencin, MD has won the NIH Health Pioneer Award and accompanying grant for his research into replacing and regrowing damaged joints and limbs.

A bioengineered matrix he invested in to regenerate ligament tissue in the knee began clinical trials in Europe last year. He is working to develop methods to regenerate entire joints, and perhaps one day, entire limbs, UConn said.

The Pioneer Award, which will be received by ten scientists this year, recognizes "scientists of exceptional creativity who propose pioneering and possibly transforming approaches to addressing major biomedical or behavioral challenges that have the potential to produce an unusually high impact on a broad area of biomedical or behavioral research," according to NIH.

Laurencin is the first UConn researcher to win the award. He earned a BSE in chemical engineering from Princeton, an MD from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in biochemical engineering/biotechnology from MIT.

FAIRFIELD — Sacred Heart University’s new academic building on the corner of Park Avenue and Jefferson Street in Fairfield will be named for Frank (SHU Class of 1969) and Marisa Martire. The building will house the John F. Welch College of Business and the Department of Communications & Media Studies.

“We are honoring the Martires in recognition of years of service and leadership as well as a multi-million dollar philanthropic commitment to the University,” said James T. Morley, Jr., chair of SHU’s board of trustees.

Bridgeport native Frank Martire earned a bachelor’s in economics from Sacred Heart before embarking on a distinguished career in finance and technology. The former CEO of Metavante Corp. is presently chairman and CEO of FIS.

OLD SAYBROOK — Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) has unveiled plans to bring advanced specialty medical care to Middlesex and New London counties. The hospital will begin renovations at 633 Old Middlesex Turnpike in Old Saybrook to develop a state-of-the-art outpatient facility, complete with the latest technology and amenities.

According to YNHH President Richard D’Aquila: “Yale-New Haven Hospital is the premier medical center in Connecticut for complex care, and our new Old Saybrook Medical Center allows us to bring Yale-New Haven quality care and expertise directly to our patients living in eastern Connecticut. It will truly be a unique specialty medical center in Middlesex and New London Counties.”

ANSONIA — BHcare’s Greater Valley Substance Abuse Action Council (VSAAC) will host a “Piece of the Prevention Puzzle” workshop. “A Piece of the Prevention Puzzle” is aimed at providing members of the lower Naugatuck Valley and greater New Haven communities with the resources and tools to help address some of today’s most critical issues affecting young people. Guest speakers Scott Driscoll, Alicia Farrell and Yifrah Kaminer, MD will focus on the legalization of marijuana and its effect on today’s youth along with internet safety.

The workshop will also feature VSAAC’s Community Champion Awards, which recognize individuals who take action to effect change in the field of substance-abuse prevention and/or intervention activities. VSAAC’s mission is to keep young people safe from alcohol, tobacco, drug use, suicide, risky behaviors and promote good mental health.

The workshop will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. October 1 at Grassy Hill Lodge, 77 Sodom La., Derby. The cost is $25 and CEUs are available. To learn more or register, visit vsaac.org. Registration deadline is September 22.

HARTFORD — The Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute (HHCCI) will be formally certified on September 16 as a charter member of the Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Alliance, an initiative to improve quality of care and outcomes for cancer patients in community health-care settings. The Cancer Institute comprises five cancer centers — one at each of Hartford HealthCare’s acute-care hospitals statewide.

The certification of the Hartford HealthCare Cancer Institute as a member of the MSK Cancer Alliance comes after one year of intensive review and assessment of all the cancer programs and services within the Institute. The five cancer centers included are at the William W. Backus Hospital in Norwich, Hartford Hospital, MidState Medical Center in Meriden, the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain and Windham Hospital.

The Cancer Institute’s membership in the MSK Cancer Alliance will bring numerous benefits to patients, both in the short- and long-term, including:

• Enhanced treatments and clinical care, including standards that align with MSK for surgical procedures, chemotherapy and radiation therapy

• Access to cutting edge research, including MSK’s clinical trials and protocols and breakthroughs in promising new fields such as molecular oncology

• Collaboration with some of the most pre-eminent cancer specialists in the world, working together to develop the best care plans for each patient.

NEW HAVEN — Celentano Biotech, Health & Medical Magnet School this month celebrates its first anniversary as a magnet school with an unusual new theme that will help prepare students for future careers in the health science fields.

At Celentano, students explore medical careers and are exposed to a rigorous curriculum that is integrated with the school’s medical theme. The goal is to help students become critical thinkers in tune with their own well-being and ready to be active and productive members of a global society. According to administrators, the school shares a common vision that all children can learn and has worked collectively to build an environment that strives to reach the highest of standards.

As the academic year unfolds, students will be exposed to complex scientific subject matter and learn to ask provocative questions with regard to science, medicine and technology. They will also learn to think critically as they learn to access, analyze and debate the answers to these questions both individually and collectively.